need to fix my heater blower motor

[maxgreenwood]

Hello,

this is my first request for help from the forum. In Oct I became the proud owner of a white TZD turbo estate, which is shuttling me about brilliantly. You don't see them on the roads over here in Ireland. (got mine in UK). i love the suspension and quirkiness. Had the rear arm bearings and spheres done, just replaced front two myself, 125k miles.

On Sat I'm planning to follow jeremy's advice and re-seat the ball bearing in the regulator as my tick time is about 4 secs or sometimes 10 secs with a longer hiss (it varies between these two states). I have a new acc sphere to try after that but the boot test seems to suggest acc sphere is ok.

Anyway i was out in the car tonight to do the pcb mod for max heater fan speed, although at the moment the blower doesnot work at all. I'm not sure how to get at the motor to check it out, and then how best to do this. The contacts on rotary control are ok, and no sign of life bridging the circuit.

Can anyone enlighten me as to how to fix my motor?

Thankyou in advance

Max

[ken newbold]

The motor is located below the scuttle panel just below the windscreen. It helps to remove this.

The blower is in the black plastic duct. This is help down by 3 (i think) 10mm nuts/bolts and one pozi screw. Remove the nuts/bolts then you'll need to find the pozi screw. It's across the back of the duct, not too easy to see. Once this is out you should be able to lift and jiggle the heater duct over on it's side to get at the resistor module. There is a 4 wire plug, that plugs into this module. If you try shorting the wires out, this should give you full blow.

I assume you've tried putting 12v straight to the motor to make sure it's not the motor thats failed or stuck, the motor connections are at the front of the duct and very easy to get to.

If it does turn out to be the resistor module and you don't have another. Take it apart and re-solder all the connections with soldering iron. This will most likely cure it. The only time I've known it fail, is when the blower is on full blow all the time. Then it's the resistor that's gone.

Have fun.

[jeremy]

I did the mod on mine about 3 years ago - prompted by the total failure of the fan. On my car (which looks identical to yours but is in fact 1980 DTR Turbo wit a much higher mileage) the immediate cause was severe corrosion of the connector to the motor which is at the top of the motor and receives all the rain falling through the grill in front of the windscreen.

I cleaned and cleaned, using switch cleaner and screwdrivers, small files etc and just when I was going to chop the connectors off it started to work again and has done so ever since.

So check the motor first and if it works - check the connections carefully.

The mod to the circuit board is well worth doing - but it won't cure a dead motor.

[AndersDK]

That is certainly a VERY early DTR of yours J

[citroen7]

If you still have trouble i have a whole box of various heater bits to help you out.

[tim leech]

Welcome aboard Max, nice looking car that, odd that it doesnt have the two tone bumpers as UK spec cars did.

[maxgreenwood]

great thanks guys i'll report back when i've had a chance to get in there tomorrow, think i'll work from the motor back. whats the safest way to tap the 12v to test?

Tim, this is a UK car, looks like the front bumper has been painted white just on top prob to cover some repair, back is still black or faded grey on top. Quite like the white myself!

[maxgreenwood]

i havn't tried 12v directly to the motor yet as i didn't know quite how to get to it. I reckon (hoping) it will still work. the pcb board seems fine so it must be something between the two so i'll have a look at that resistor board.

[ken newbold]

Look down the front of the blower, you'll see 2 wires in a plug/socket, unplug it and stick 12v onto the ones going to the motor.

[MULLEY]

Er, have u tried just giving the motor a whack with your hand to see if it fires up?

[DLM]

Erm... so far as I know, hands aren't normally rated at 12v......

As for tick times go, I'd also check out the suspension page on the excellent BX DIY site to look at return rates - if accumulator replacement or ball-bearing reseat fail to bring about an improvement.

http://www.tramontana.co.hu/citroen/sus ... ension.php

[maxgreenwood]

forgive me guys i've let you down and embarrased myself!

... feeling chuffed with myself for getting the car on stands nice and steady, couldn't get the acc sphere off. trying normal size chain wrench, chisel, hammer, nearly sent myself deaf. I've heard they're difficult and mine is brown rather than green so probably well corroded .. so what is the best way? after trying chain wrench i was hitting the seam on the side with chisel and hammer, can i safely hit where the thread is to try and break corrosion there?

[maxgreenwood]

....sorry forgot to mention... havn't got round to tackling the fan yet

[Way2go]

i was hitting the seam on the side with chisel and hammer, can i safely hit where the thread is to try and break corrosion there?

NO, don't hit by the thread as that is likely to cause problems and anyway there is better leverage by hitting at the seam!
If you believe it is corrosion holding it, spray the mating face with penetrating oil and leave overnight before trying again.

Are you using a club hammer? A nail hammer is probably too light a shock. Chisel of course is angled to rotate the sphere anti-clockwise.

[ken newbold]

Just thought I'd mention the obvious, we assume you've released the pressure by undoing the 12mm screw/bolt on the regulator by 1/2 turn